Ezekiel 42

1 Then he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the room that was over against the separate place, and which was over against the building toward the north.

[in the vision] the man led me out of the inner courtyard, through [the entrance on] the north side. We entered the outer courtyard and came to a building that was built against the north [of the inner courtyard].

2 The length of the front at the north entrance was one hundred seventy-two feet three inches, and the breadth was eighty-six feet two inches.

That building was (175 feet/53 meters) long and (87-1/2 feet/26.5 meters) wide. Its doorway faced north.

3 Facing the inner court of thirty-four feet five inches, and facing the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery facing gallery in three stories.

In that building were two rows of rooms, built on three levels, that faced each other. One row of rooms was built against the wall of the inner courtyard, and the other row was built against the wall facing the outer courtyard. The building was 34 feet from the temple.

4 Before the rooms was a walk of seventeen feet three inches breadth inward, a way of one hundred seventy-two feet three inches; and their doors were toward the north.

Between the [two] rows of rooms there was a walkway that was (17-1/2 feet/5.3 meters) wide and (175 feet/53 meters) long. All its doors were on the north side.

5 Now the upper rooms were shorter; for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middle, in the building.

Each of the upper rows of rooms was narrower than the row of rooms below them, [because the upper rows needed to have a walkway in front of them].

6 For they were in three stories, and they didn't have pillars as the pillars of the courts: therefore the uppermost was straitened more than the lowest and the middle from the ground.

The rooms on the upper levels had no pillars to support them like the ones in the courtyard. Instead, each of those row of rooms were supported by the walls of the row of rooms on the level below.

7 The wall that was outside by the side of the rooms, toward the outer court before the rooms, its length was eighty-six feet two inches.

The wall of the building extended (87-1/2 feet/26.5 meters) past the set of rooms built along the outer courtyard, separating all the rooms from the outer courtyard.

8 For the length of the rooms that were in the outer court was eighty-six feet two inches: and look, before the temple were one hundred seventy-two feet three inches.

The row of rooms that were along the outer courtyard was (87-1/2 feet/26.5 meters) long, and the set of rooms that faced the temple was (175 feet/53 meters) long.

9 From under these rooms was the entry on the east side, as one goes into them from the outer court.

The lowest row of rooms had an entrance from the outer courtyard, on the east side.

10 In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the south, before the separate place, and before the building, there were rooms.

On the south [side], along the wall of the outer courtyard, next to the temple courtyard, was a [a building with two] rows of rooms,

11 The way before them was like the appearance of the way of the rooms which were toward the north; according to their length so was their breadth: and all their exits were both according to their fashions, and according to their doors.

with a walkway between them. Those rooms were like the rooms on the north [side]: they were the same length and width, and had the same kind of entrances.

12 According to the doors of the rooms that were toward the south was a door at the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one enters into them.

The doorways on the south side were similar to the doorways on the north side. There was an entrance in the wall that faced the doors of the set of rooms, and there was an entrance on the east side, at the end of the inside walkway.

13 Then he said to me, "The north rooms and the south rooms, which are before the separate place, they are the holy rooms, where the cohanim who are near to the LORD shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; for the place is holy.

Then the man said to me, “These rooms that overlook the temple on the north and south sides are holy. Here the priests who offer sacrifices to Yahweh will [their portions of] the sacred offerings. Because these rooms are holy, they will be used to store the sacred offerings: [the grain for] the grain offerings, the offerings for the sins that people have committed, and offerings in order that people will no longer be guilty for having sinned.

14 When the cohanim enter in, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the outer court, but there they shall lay their garments in which they minister; for they are holy: and they shall put on other garments, and shall approach to that which pertains to the people."

When the priests leave the temple, they will not be allowed to [immediately] enter the outer courtyard. First, they must remove the clothes that they had been wearing inside the temple, because those clothes are holy. They must put on other clothes before they enter the parts [of the temple area] where the [other] people [gather].”

15 Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it all around.

When the man had finished measuring the inside of the temple area, he led me out through the east entrance [of the outer courtyard] and measured all the way around the temple area.

16 He measured on the east side with the measuring reed eight hundred sixty-one feet three inches, with the measuring reed all around.

He measured the four sides of the area. There was a wall around the area that was (875 feet/265 meters) long on each side.

17 The ledge shall be twenty-four feet one inch long by twenty-four feet one inch broad in the four sides of it; and the border about it shall be ten and a half inches; and its bottom shall be twenty-one inches around; and its steps shall look toward the east."

18 He measured on the south side eight hundred sixty-one feet three inches with the measuring reed.

19 He turned about to the west side, and measured eight hundred sixty-one feet three inches with the measuring reed.

20 He measured it on the four sides: it had a wall around it, the length eight hundred sixty-one feet three inches, and the breadth eight hundred sixty-one feet three inches, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.

That wall separated the [area which was] sacred/holy from the [areas that were] not sacred.